Gardening Leave
by acetamide
Summary: Stephen, Nick and Taylor find themselves somewhere other than their own time.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Gardening Leave  
**Fandom**: Primeval  
**Pairing**: Stephen/Nick  
**AN**: inspired by **katlair** and **razorxrosary**  
**Summary**: That anomaly that brought Stephen, Nick, and Taylor back to our time? Well what if it led somewhere else? LET THE NAKED SWIMMING BEGIN.

* * *

_Location: Unknown_

_Date: Unknown. Zero for reference_

The first thing Stephen was aware of when they reached the other side of the anomaly was a wet hotness pressing in around him, suffocating him. He stumbled as he took a huge breath of the damp air, oxygen flooding his brain, and reached out weakly to Nick for support as a blinding pain exploded behind his eyes.

"Where are we?" he choked out as the pain subsided, left hand fisted in Nick's shirt, right hand clutching Taylor. "Some sort of rainforest?"

"Looks like it," Nick agreed, hand pressed to his chest. "Don't know what time period though."

"It's really hot!" Taylor pointed out, sitting down at the base of an enormous tree and pulling Stephen with her. "Can we sit here for a while? There ain't no monsters here."

"There could be some camouflaged, or stalking us, we need to find protection…"

"Yeah, we can stay here for a bit," Stephen cut in, shooting Nick a warning look. The other man rolled his eyes and turned away, busying himself with his bag, and Stephen glanced around them.

He assumed that the sun was shining brightly above the thick canopy of leaves over their heads – shafts were streaming through, casting beams of shattered emerald around their feet and sparkling off the large lake a hundred or so yards away. The place was far from silent; squawks and screams and buzzes assaulted Stephen's ears as the birds and bugs went about their business all around them, and he swatted at a mosquito as it shot towards him.

"So where d'you reckon we are then?" Taylor asked, taking a swig of water from Stephen's flask. He shrugged and looked up at Nick, who was inspecting some animal tracks.

"A rainforest somewhere. Probably South America, if I had to guess. Unfortunately I've got no idea what era we're in until we see some sort of creature. So we'll just have to wait."

Taylor sighed and looked around, eyes lighting up as she noticed the body of water not too far away.

"D'you think it's safe?" she asked, and Stephen inwardly marvelled at her astuteness.

"We can go have a look, if you want," he suggested, making to stand up, but Nick suddenly turned and threw himself down at the base of the tree beside them both.

"Don't move, and stay quiet," he breathed, arm over Taylor and hand resting on Stephen's arm. "There's something coming."

Stephen felt his breath hitch as he heard the crack of a branch to their left, and twisted his head to look around. A tree shifted fifty yards away.

"What is it?" Taylor asked, a hint of fear tingeing her voice, and Stephen's grip on her tightened.

"Ssshhh," he whispered, and felt Nick's hand twitch on his biceps. There was a huge rumbling as the creature approached, each of its footsteps accentuated by a resonating thud that they felt through the ground rather than heard, the thick high foliage blocking their view so that all that could be seen was a massive hairy mound moving towards them.

"Is it gonna eat us?" Taylor asked, and Stephen met Nick's gaze over her head.

"I don't know," he replied honestly, eyes locked.

"We'll be fine," Nick shot back, not breaking the eye contact.

The thumping and rumbling stopped ten yards away.

And an enormous, hair-covered beast reared up on its high legs, reaching out with one front legs to wrap around a thick tree, supporting itself as it pulled at the branches with the other. Nick's breath escaped him in a huge whoosh that ruffled Taylor's hair.

"_Megatherium_," he explained. "Giant sloth. Herbivore, not aggressive. It's not going to attack us, it's too slow."

"So now we know the time period…"

"We're in South America, you were right. No carnivores here, not at this time. We're safe."

Stephen glanced down at Taylor, who was staring at the sloth in fascination.

"Well, I reckon we could all do with a wash. How about checking out that lake?"

Taylor grinned up at him.

* * *

"How long?" Stephen asked Nick, watching Taylor as she splashed in the warm water. Nick shrugged.

"I have no idea. Connor's device will let us know if any anomalies are nearby."

"That's not what I meant."

Nick sighed and turned to fix him with a sharp blue gaze

"There's plenty of water, and berries and plants that we can eat. I'm sure we could get some hunting done too. We could survive for a long time yet."

"What about Taylor? A young girl can't be expected to live here."

"What, and we can?"

"You know what I mean," Stephen replied, exasperatedly, and sat down hard on a rock, running a hand through his wet hair. "She needs to socialise, she needs friends. We've got each other, but she barely knows us. How long will she have to cope? A week? A month? We need to get her back."

"I know," Nick said simply, sitting down beside him. The trees swayed above them. "But I can't help that. We'll just have to do the best that we can. Hopefully it won't be too long."

"Were you telling the truth earlier?" Stephen asked, eyeing Nick out of the corner of his eye. "When you said that there weren't any carnivores?"

"Maybe. It depends on what the date is. Sloths were around for millions of years, the majority of which didn't coincide with any carnivore period in this part of the world. But towards the end of their existence, carnivores started appearing. Ones like the Smilodon, at the same time the landmass between the Americas re-formed. So long as we're in the period where there was no bridge, we're safe. If not… we won't last for very long."

"Well then. We'd better hope that we arrived during the middle of their reign."

"I couldn't agree more," Nick said gravely, and stripped off his T-shirt as Taylor clambered out of the lake. "My turn."

* * *

Comments welcome & much appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: One week from Zero_

"It's your own fault," Stephen scolded as Nick flinched away from his touch, shoulders twitching. "I warned you about staying up there too long."

"I was studying some tracks!" Nick protested, hissing in pain. "I lost track of time!"

"Don't you have a watch?" Stephen asked acidly, and Nick grumbled to himself.

"Just sort it out."

Stephen scowled and dipped the acacia angustissima leaf into the water and laid it gently across the livid red skin of Cutter's neck and shoulders, smoothing it down.

"What was so interesting up there anyway?" he asked, selecting another leaf.

"Some sort of remains. Looks like a Megalodon. I'd say we arrived at about the right time, to be honest. If I can find some more somewhere, I might be able to determine the date more specifically," Nick replied grudgingly, and Stephen squeezed some plant juices onto his neck, rubbing it in with soft fingers.

"So long as you don't get yourself sunburnt again, I have no problems with that."

* * *

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: Two weeks from Zero_

"I said no!"

Taylor glared up at Stephen and folded her arms crossly.

"You ain't the boss of me, you can't tell me what I can an' can't do!" she spat, and Nick sighed heavily.

"Look, whilst you're here with us, we _are_ the boss of you. You can't just try and run off after a creature like that with Stephen's gun! It's not safe."

"He goes running off all the time with his gun, I don't see why I can't!"

"Yes, but unlike Stephen, you are not and never will be a prospective Olympic shooter. So don't try that one on me young lady," Nick scolded, and wrenched the rifle from her grasp.

"I didn't know you remembered that," Stephen said quietly as Taylor stormed off furiously.

"Of course I remembered," Nick dismissed him and followed Taylor to the branch that she had seated herself on, Stephen close behind.

"Look, we're not saying that you can't do anything. Hell, I'll teach you how to hunt if you want. But you have to careful," Stephen explained, kneeling down so that he was at her level. "We still don't know whether or not there are dangerous carnivores out there. So until I think you're ready to go out by yourself, you need to stay with one of us at all times."

Taylor looked up at him sullenly.

"But I can hang around the camp by myself, yeah?"

"Once we've got all the traps set up, it'll be the safest place for you to be," Nick confirmed. "And like he said, Stephen will teach you to hunt properly."

"With guns?" she asked, brightening immediately, and Stephen winced.

"Well, if we keep on using them, we'll run out of ammunition. No, I'll teach you _how_ to use them, but we'll hunt using knives. We need to save the ammo in case we're attacked."

Taylor seemed unfazed.

"Wicked!" she grinned, and leapt up to hug Stephen. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"I think that fire could do with banking up, you know," he suggested and the young girl nodded emphatically, jogging off towards it. The men looked at each other.

"I think we just had our first 'rebellious teenager' moment," Nick said wryly, and Stephen shook his head, smiling.

"A little bit of training and she won't be a bad kid. So I guess we're stuck with raising her then?"

"Let's hope that an anomaly opens soon. I can't deal with much more of that."

* * *

Comment welcome & very much appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: One month from Zero_

Stephen's grip tightened on the roughly-hewn knife gripped in his hand, and he settled himself better in the foliage, legs tensed and ready to spring, adrenaline beginning to spike through his system. The opossum paused where it was gorging itself on the arracacha**,** sniffing the air, and he bit his lip to stop himself from swearing.

After standing stock still for a moment too long for Stephen's liking, the opossum returned to its bush, chirping happily to itself as it reached for the highest berries. Stephen raised his arm slowly, carefully and silently, and paused for a brief minute, steadying his breathing.

In one fluid movement, the coiled muscles in his legs straightened and he launched himself from the foliage, leaping well clear, right arm hurtling down and releasing the knife, the sharp object whipping through the air to land in the opossum's flank with a sickening thud before the creature even realised that he was there.

Stephen grimaced and climbed to his feet, walking over to where the opossum was squealing and flailing, dagger stuck out of its side as blood seeped out of the wound, the creature slowly weakening. He pulled the dagger out and the creature immediately jumped up, spraying blood all over Stephen. He scowled and grabbed the opossum, slitting its throat. It went still.

"You took your time!" Nick admonished as he returned to the camp with it hanging at his side, blood smeared on his face and arms and clothes. He dumped the body beside the fire and stripped off his shirt.

"I swear, those things are more trouble than they're worth," he said, brandishing his shirt at the dead opossum. Taylor slid down from the rock that she was sat on.

"What, can't you catch 'em?" she teased, and Stephen pushed her playfully.

"Hardly. They're dozy buggers. They just tend to get blood everywhere."

"Well, they also happen to be tasty buggers. Better than the berries that Taylor and I have been collecting."

"Oi, them's good berries, I'll 'ave you know!" Taylor objected, pilfering one of them from where they were sat in a large mound on a flat stone.

"They're great, but not as good at Stephen's opossum," Nick agreed as he skinned it. Stephen shrugged.

"A bit disappointing that there isn't anything bigger for me to hunt. Something that would last us a few days, so I didn't have to do this every day," he grumbled, scrubbing at his arms and face with a rag that they'd designated for cleaning.

"Stop complaining, if they were any bigger they'd be the ones hunting you."

"Yeah, an' then you'd be dead, wouldn't you?" Taylor put in, sniffing the meat as Nick cooked it. "Then we'd be in trouble. Nick can hardly defend me, can he?"

"Hey!" Nick protested, smiling, and threw one of the opossum's legs at her. She ducked and grinned, sitting down beside Stephen and helping to clean the blood from his shirt. "You keep that brat of yours under control," he said good-naturedly, and Stephen looked up.

"I'll set her on you if you don't hurry up with that," he replied, grinning. "I'm starving."

Nick looked up at him, and paused for a moment before crossing the few feet and dipping his hand into the bowl of slightly red water, reaching up to take Stephen's face in his dry hand, tilting it towards himself. He touched his cheek with the wet hand, rubbing at Stephen's cheekbone as Taylor fell silent. He let go abruptly.

"You still had blood on you," he said shortly, concentrating once more on the meat as it cooked.

Taylor looked at him.

* * *

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: Six months from Zero_

"D'you think we'll ever get out of 'ere?" Taylor asked, leaning back against Stephen's knees as he tried to tame her hair. "An' will everythin' 'ave changed when we get back?"

"Well, it depends if an anomaly opens," Nick replied, yawning widely and lying back to stare up at the darkening sky. "If we can get to Spaghetti Junction, then we can probably get back home. But we might end up going right back to the time that we left – it would be a year for us, but maybe an hour for them."

"So they won't 'ave aged at all?"

"Well, that's only if we go back at the same time we left," Stephen corrected, finishing with her hair and laying down beside Nick. "We could easily get back there a year after we left, so we'd all have aged appropriately."

"That would be well weird," Taylor decided, settling herself between them. "I mean like, this lad that was gonna ask me out. He'd be a year younger than me! I couldn't go out with 'im then, could I?"

"There's nothing wrong with that," Nick replied with a shrug. "I've known bigger age gaps than a year before."

"Yeah, but the guy's meant to be older, innit?"

"Not necessarily," Stephen put in. "I've known relationship where the woman's older."

Stephen's eyes met Nick's.

* * *

Comments very welcome & much appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: One year from Zero_

"I am sorry, you know."

Nick looked up from where he was skinning the litopterna.

"For what?"

Stephen shrugged, and poked at the fire.

"You know what. Helen. I don't think I ever apologised."

"You didn't have to. I know what she's like. She's a bitch, and she left me. I refused to go with her because it would meaning leaving you lot behind."

"What do you mean?"

Nick sighed and set down the knife, leaning forward on his elbows.

"You know when I went through and spoke to her? When Lester had his men go and capture her?" he paused as Stephen nodded. "Well she wanted me to stay with her. To leave you all behind and go travelling with her into the past and future. But I couldn't do it. I told her all sorts, but I couldn't leave you."

There was a pregnant pause.

"I probably wouldn't have managed without you."

"Neither would I."

* * *

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: Two years from Zero_

"Don't be such a spoilsport!" Taylor shouted as she climbed up onto the high rock. "We've seen you with no shirt on before!"

Stephen ducked underwater as she hurled herself from the fifty-foot height and curled into a tiny, compact ball to land beside him and send water spraying everywhere. She surfaced, grinning widely.

"I bet it's cold!" Nick called from where he was perched on a large log at the edge of the lake. Stephen laughed.

"Just jump in then. You can't back out of that," he pointed out, and Taylor swam over to the edge.

"Come on, or I'll force you in," she threatened. Nick's eyebrows shot up in an affronted manner.

"You force me in? Come on, you little brat, like you could manage to do that," he scoffed, but hesitated as he saw Stephen run up out of the water towards them.

"She might not, but I certainly could," he said, hands on hips, and Nick rolled his eyes.

"I refuse to run around this jungle in a state of undress like you too."

Stephen and Taylor both looked down at their underwear.

"Yeah, cos there's so many people here to see you," Taylor shot back sarcastically, and cast Stephen a mischievous grin. "You hold him."

"What? Wait –" but Nick was cut off by Stephen's suddenly wrapping his arms firmly about his chest from behind, and Taylor leapt on his boots, yanking them off.

"I told you I'd force you!" she said cheerfully as she proceeded to pull off his clothes, which was proving slightly difficult as he was squirming in Stephen's firm grip.

"I'll ground you if you carry on like this," Nick warned, trying to prise Stephen's hands from his waist and failing. "You see if I don't."

"Ground me?" Taylor laughed. "I'd like to see you try."

"This is really unfair," Nick settled for complaining as Stephen hauled him bodily up the steep rock face to where Taylor had been jumping. "I refuse to cook dinner tonight."

"Taylor can cook, you do realise," Stephen pointed out as Nick slipped slightly on the wet rock.

"Why do I have no control over you two?" he asked, clearly exasperated, as they reached the top.

"Because we're both rebelling against you. Take a deep breath."

Taylor jumped first, giving them enough room to both land as Stephen wrapped his arms and legs completely around the older man, locking them both together as he hurled them both backwards through the air. The few airborne seconds dragged on for an eternity as Nick was acutely aware of Stephen's hands on his shoulder and waist, legs pressed against his, skin to skin and hip to hip, chest rising and falling against his back as Stephen inhaled deeply, warmth turning to cool as they plunged into the water entangled, now and Nick realised that they always had been.

They hit the bottom and Nick pushed off from the ground hard, shooting them back up through and to the light. They surfaced, heads pounding, Stephen's breath hot on Nick's neck, hands warm again and gentle where they rested, and Nick felt his eyes drifting closed as he relaxed in the warm embrace.

"I told you it wasn't that bad!" Taylor shouted, swimming over to them, and they sprang apart, each with a guilty look on their faces, Nick blushing furiously. She gave them an odd look. "Guys, seriously. I knew before we came here."

"Excuse me?" Stephen asked, bemused, his breath slightly ragged. She smirked.

"Oh come off it. You two've got a thing going on, 'aven't you? I'm not blind, you know. And you're hardly subtle about it."

"Well…"

"I ain't got no problem wiv it. I woulda said if I 'ad. So you can stop blushing, Nick."

"It's not that," he admitted, and looked past Stephen to where they had landed a few metres away. "My boxers came off when we landed. So did yours."

"I'm off!" Taylor said hastily, swimming towards the opposite side of the lake. Stephen glanced at Nick.

"I've seen you naked before."

"By accident."

"Still counts."

Nick smiled and moved back towards him.

* * *

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: Three years from Zero_

"Oh come off it!" Taylor retorted, hands on hips. "You're well the woman here."

"And how have you come to that conclusion, missy?" Nick said with a scowl as Stephen sniggered behind him. "I'm just as macho as him!"

"Mate, you do the cooking and cleaning. Stephen is the one that does the hunting and protecting an' that. I mean, how else is it gonna work?"

"I am the alpha male in this camp! I am the most senior member!" Nick protested, and Stephen jogged past him, grinning.

"Let's see you prove that you're the alpha, granddad," he taunted, and Taylor clambered up onto a nearby rock.

"Yeah, come on, mum. Let's see you be the alpha male!"

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you!"

Stephen was thrown completely off guard as Nick suddenly launched himself at the younger man, catching him around the waist and throwing both of them to the floor. Stephen landed hard and took a moment to catch his breath before launching himself up and flipping Nick over so that he was straddling him. Nick grinned and headbutted Stephen solidly in the chest, causing him to cough and fall backwards. He jumped up immediately and wrapped one arm around the other's neck, the other around his chest.

"Admit defeat?" he asked, slightly out of breath, and Stephen smirked, hands holding onto Nick's arms.

"Never," he replied cheekily, and to cries of encouragement from Taylor, took a firmer hold of Nick's arms and with an almighty heave, pulled him over his shoulder and onto the ground in front of him. Nick stared up at him, completely winded, and closed his eyes.

"I forgot that you were an Olympic champion," he admitted, staring up at Stephen, who laughed and kneeled upright so that he was bending over the other's man's head, knees pressed against his shoulders.

"Hardly. Junior fencing champion and prospective junior Olympic shooter, that's all."

"Enough for me," Nick replied with a smile and reached up to pull Stephen down to him.

"OK, I'm off!" Taylor said loudly, jumping down from her rock abruptly.

"Do you want to do dinner?" Stephen asked, as Nick rubbed small circles on the back of his neck.

"Sure. Now that you've proven that you're in charge here…"

"Hey!"

"Don't forget to take the rifle just in case!" Stephen called after her as she jogged back to the camp. He grinned down at Nick. "She's not turned out bad, has she?"

"Considering who she's had raising her, no. She could be worse."

"I reckon you make a good mum."

"Shut up."

Stephen grinned as he touched his lips to Nick's.

He reckoned he made a pretty good dad, too.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: Four years from Zero_

"Mum, we need to WHOA!" Taylor wheeled around as she approached the cave entrance. "I'm going, I'm going…"

"Wha…?" Nick mumbled, and sat up, rubbing his eyes, Stephen's arm resting over his stomach. "Taylor, come back, it's fine."

"I ain't interrupting anything, am I?" she asked cautiously, pausing before turning back around. Nick chuckled.

"He's fast asleep, you're not interrupting anything. Did you want something?"

"Yeah… I was just going to say that we need to redo one of the traps, a litopterna fell into it last night," she replied, sitting down beside them. Nick lay back down and Stephen shifted closer to him in his sleep. Taylor hesitated.

"How long you two known each other?" she asked, indicating to the sleeping man with a jerk of her head. Nick looked down at him and smiled.

"I'd say about fifteen years, give or take. We go back a long way."

"So you know him pretty well? Have you ever had a fight or anythin'?"

"Yes. Just before we met you, really," he paused and pulled the younger man closer to his chest. "I found out that he'd had an affair with my wife before she went missing."

"You're kidding, yeah?" she asked incredulously, staring down at Stephen. Nick shook his head. "And you're still with him?"

"You'd be amazed what you can forgive the people you love," he replied wryly.

"So you love him then?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

* * *

_Location: South American rainforest_

_Date: Five years, seven months and twenty-two days from Zero_

"Happy birthday!"

Taylor grinned as Stephen handed her a steaming hot litopterna leg.

"You know, it kind of puts a dampener on your eighteenth when you had to help cook the food yourself."

"I was kind of busy sorting out the rest of the food!" Nick protested, and she laughed.

"Calm down mum, I'm just messing with you."

"You'd better be. Or I'll ground you."

"Like that'd work," Stephen put in sarcastically, shoulder pressed into Nick's. "She could easily outrun us. She knows this part of the forest better than either of us."

"It's the principle, OK?" Nick shot back grumpily, and picked up his own meat. "Eat your dinner."

"So when's it your sixtieth, mum?" Taylor asked mischievously, and Nick choked on his food.

"I'll have you know that it's not even my fiftieth yet!" he shot back, eyes watering, as Stephen patted him on the back.

"He's sensitive about his age," he explained to Taylor in a stage whisper.

"You can shut up," Nick retorted.

"Why? Can't hack that you'll be fifty in just three years time?"

"Mum…"

"Come on, like we're not both getting on."

"But unlike you, I am still as fit as ever."

"Mum…"

"What, you found some weights hidden back there in the clearing?"

"I just know how to exercise myself."

"I can think of other ways to exercise ourselves."

"DAD!"

Stephen and Nick jumped, startled, and looked across at Taylor. Her eyes were wide and bright and she was pointing excitedly at

"Connor's device is going off!"

* * *

_Location: ARC_

_Date: Five years, seven months and twenty-two days from Zero, AKA February 2008_

"So you're saying that you've spent over five years in that anomaly?" Abby asked, incredulously, as Taylor showered. "But you've only been gone for a week!"

"We just happened to come back through an anomaly that was a week after the incident. We were hoping to get one that coincided with the time we'd been away… guess we weren't so lucky," Stephen said with a shrug, and Connor ran a hand through his hair.

"But… what time period was it? How did you managed to survive for over five years? You should have been dead after five days!"

"The first anomaly went to the Silurian period, little oxygen there, and we wouldn't have survived with predators. But we found another anomaly, took us to the Pliocene epoch, South America," Nick explained, and Connor nodded slowly.

"Very few carnivores, plenty of herbivores – hey, did you see any hominids?" he asked excitedly, as Taylor exited the bathroom, clean and damp.

"Your turn, mum," she said tiredly, and took the large seat that Nick vacated. "God, I'm looking forward to a real night's sleep."

"Mum?" Jenny asked, bemused, as Stephen watched Nick disappear into the bathroom.

"Say, any chance that I could go see my stepdad?"

"He's not aged like you have," Stephen reminded her. "He might not recognise you."

"Doesn't matter," she shrugged, and slid down in her seat. "I'm not going back to live with him, I want to stay with you and mum."

"You're eighteen, isn't it time you moved out?"

"You what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I haven't slept in a real bed for nearly six years and I've been looking after you two, I reckon I've earned a few months living with you."

"We don't even live together."

"We can sort that out."

"Have I missed something really important?" Jenny asked acidly, crossing her legs where she sat on the opposite side of the room. "Your mother's dead, Taylor."

"Yeah, my real one," Taylor replied in a dismissive tone. "I mean Nick."

"Mum?"

"He spent the past five years cooking and cleaning," Stephen explained, as the man in question returned from the bathroom. "Taylor wants to live with us."

"I don't see why not."

"I said no."

"Well, I say she can."

"We're meant to present a united front, you know," Stephen said grumpily, and Nick swatted at him.

"Go have a shower."

"Yeah, we missed something pretty big," Connor decided, and sat down.

Nick caught Stephen's eye, and smiled.

* * *

Thank for reading, hope you enjoyed it!


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